Widely regarded as Dickens’s masterpiece, Bleak House centers on the generations-long lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, through which “whole families have inherited legendary hatreds.” Focusing on Esther Summerson, a ward of John Jarndyce, the novel traces Esther’s romantic coming-of-age and, in classic Dickensian style, the gradual revelation of long-buried secrets, all set against the foggy backdrop of the Court of Chancery. Mixing romance, mystery, comedy, and satire, Bleak House limns the suffering caused by the intricate inefficiency of the law.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was one of England's greatest writers. Best known for his classic serialized novels, such as "Oliver Twist", "A Tale of Two Cities", and "Great Expectations", Dickens wrote about the London he lived in, the conditions of the poor, and the growing tensions between the classes. He achieved critical and popular international success in his lifetime and was honored with burial in Westminster Abbey.

Guardian

Reviewed by Sam Jordison
on
Feb 07 2012

In the end it doesn't greatly matter if Bleak House is modern, old-fashioned, sentimental or barbed. What matters is that it is a wonderful piece of storytelling. It's that which keeps us entranced 200 years after its author's birth.

The Independent

Reviewed by Anna Quindlen
on
Mar 13 2014

Bleak House is known as a novel about the law, but it is really about the sadness and the souls of two women, one who has sold her happiness for the sake of security, and one riven by the insecurity of not knowing who she is. That's why I love it so.

The Independent

Reviewed by Linda Grant
on
Oct 22 2011

Both authors have a whole society in their viewfinder. Did Dickens, the former hack, know what he was doing? Would he have understood Hillis Miller's introduction? I don't know. But the complex pleasures of 'Bleak House' go on and on revealing themselves.

Inverarity is not a Scottish village

on
Dec 05 2011

I haven't read a Dickens book yet that I didn't like, but although some people consider Bleak House his masterpiece, it's not my favorite. There were memorable characters, but I did not think they were as memorable (or as funny) as, say, Mr. Micawber, Uriah Heep and Betsey Trotwood...

She Reads Novels

Reviewed by Helen
on
Nov 02 2010

Bleak House has everything I would normally love in a book: an intricate plot, secrets and revelations, humour, a mystery, unusual characters. Unfortunately there was something about the book that didn’t quite work for me...

Bookworm1858

Reviewed by The Insouciant Sophisticate
on
Oct 28 2010

...I did not love this book although I wanted to. Dickens just writes such long sentences and stuffs so much unnecessary information in there; he really wrote for his time which had a different attention span and different expectations of their authors than this time.